Do "smart" parking meters really need phone numbers? Does every "smart meter" installed by electric utilities need a telephone number? Does every new car with a built-in navigation system need a phone number? Does every Amazon Kindle (and similar e-readers) really need its own phone number?

In the absence of an alternative identifier, the answer seems to be a resounding "yes" to all of the above.

For the utilities sector, smart metering is a hugely important step to inform consumers of where their money is going – especially with continually rising bill prices – as well as saving energy overall.

And in terms of the ever-growing Internet of Things, the smart meter is seen as the first step to creating the smart home.

In the UK, smart metering has been a major issue of late. Earlier this month it was announced by the government that the rollout of smart meters to 30 million UK homes is to be...

Perhaps you have seen the research that Cisco IBSG has shared about the Internet of Everything phenomenon. Others are now participating in the global market assessment, with the intent to gain a better understanding of the applications and associated upside potential. The latest data from ABI Research on the Internet of Everything (IoE) shows that there are more than 10 billion wireless connected devices in the market today -- with over 30...

After years of steady but low growth, the commercial building automation systems (BAS) market is experiencing a rapid period of change and investment. Traditionally, growth and adoption has been closely tied to new building completion but new entrants and new connectivity are driving greater investment. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, over the next five years the building automation services market will grow to $43 billion -- that's up from $35 billion this year. Two key factors...

Joe Dignan, Chief Analyst, Public Sector TechnologyCity CIOs need to understand how technology can be used to make their arena more economically competitive. There is a school of thought that says that the main competitive edge for a city is not location but accessibility – and on a global stage that means the airports. Indeed, many cities are becoming transport hubs where the city supports the airport rather than the other way around.

The two main silos in the telematics industry -- consumer automotive and commercial telematics -- remain the most active areas within the broader M2M (machine to machine) mobile communications industry. Advancements in entertainment head-units and higher smartphone penetration will result in software App capability reaching a fifth of all consumer vehicles in the developed markets of North America and Western Europe by 2017. According to the findings from the latest market study by Juniper Research, the success of new standards -- such as MirrorLink -- will be instrumental in creating the foundations for the connected car ecosystem to...

The various utility applications for communications networks and associated investment in infrastructure will grow rapidly in 2013, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. Moreover, spending by utilities transitioning their networks to Smart Grid capabilities reached $23.68 billion in 2012. Highlighting the growing momentum behind the spending, the 2012 total alone represents 48 percent of Smart Grid spending to date. During the...

Ericsson added to its flurry of recent announcements at this morning’s press conference at MWC 2013. Today’s announcements follow similar themes to the others (M2M and video) and fit neatly with Ericsson’s vision for the “networked society”. However, they are more than just theory or a new product, with Ericsson revealing that operators are already using the services. In the case of M2M, we question whether there could be greater opportunities...

I see quite a few articles (especially by Gary Kim) about service providers (SPs) becoming irrelevant. In this article, he quotes Matthew Key, CEO of Telefónica’s digital division, arguing "that mobile operators must invest in innovation, because they are becoming “commoditised” and their relevance to customers is 'decreasing.'" If this were in fact true, Sprint or Tracfone would be...

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